For more information, contact Toni Searle, 216-368-4443 or amf2@po.cwru.edu.

Posted 10-15-01

Homecoming festivities feature pep rally, parade

CLEVELAND -- Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones will be the grand marshal of Case Western Reserve University's homecoming parade at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 27, marking one of the highlights of an expanded homecoming weekend this year. Faculty, staff, students, and their families are invited to attend the weekend's events, especially the pep rally, parade, and football game.

The festivities begin at 8 p.m. Friday, October 26 with a pep rally at the Spot. The event will feature fun competitions between the four undergraduate classes, as well as the announcement of which students will be in the homecoming court.

At the pep rally, the class officers are expected to face off in a pizza-eating contest, and they each are writing a "spirit yell" cheer to lead their classmates in at the event. A four-way tug of war between the classes also is planned.

A Spot Night will follow the pep rally. The acoustic rock band Georgia Avenue will perform.

The parade steps off at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 27 at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Ford Drive. Floats, bands, and marching groups will wind around the north-side residence hall areas, then head north on East 115th Street to Finnegan Fields. A faculty committee will judge the parade floats and select prize winners.

The homecoming court will ride in one of the rocket cars from Euclid Beach during the parade. Other participants will include the CWRU marching band, pep band, dance team, cheerleaders, and the Alpha Phi Girl Scouts. At least two companies -- Chipotle and Promote U (a graphics company) -- also are planning to be part of the parade.

Members of the Cleveland Fire Department unit also will be part of the parade. Student leaders will help distribute fliers about the department's fund-raising effort to benefit the New York fire fighters.

An honor guard from CWRU and John Carroll University will be part of the pep rally, parade, and football game.

Picnics will follow the parade from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a "block party" area on East 115th Street. The section of the street from Wade Park to Bellflower Road will be closed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. An all-campus picnic will help bring undergraduates out to the event, and the annual alumni picnic in the tent also will feature former student leaders among young alumni (the last 10 years' graduating classes).

At 1 p.m., the Spartan football team will face off in the homecoming game against Denison University's Big Red. Halftime ceremonies will include the announcement of the homecoming king and queen.

The soccer teams also will have games October 27. The men play at 11 a.m., and the women at 2 p.m., both against Carnegie Mellon University.

The homecoming dance begins at 9 p.m. at the University Club with a masquerade theme.

For more information on homecoming events, call the Office of Student Activities at 216-368-2679.